Description: Description of the vast variety of predictive analytics topics covered by the Forecasting & Futurism section and introduction to the July 2015 issue of the newsletter.

Description: The article discusses the sustainability of the ACA individual market from a public entitlement standpoint. A key point of measuring sustainability is the reliance on market forces rather than federal budget constraints. The article explains why an actuarial viewpoint of sustainability is necessary to a greater extent than other public assistance and social insurance programs. The article challenges actuaries to be a bold, objective voice in a space that is full of opinionated but often uninformed viewpoints.

Description: The science of behavioral economics explains shifts in social actions and behaviors. Behavioral economics studies how people actually behave in given circumstances—not what they did in the past or say they might do in the future, but how they are likely to behave now. It examines rational and irrational thought as well as unconscious motivations to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of consumer behavior. Could the insurance industry utilize behavioral economics as a way to potentially increase consumer desire to buy life insurance?

Description: The Behavioral Finance subgroup of the Health Section will be publishing a series of literature reviews in Health Watch. This is the first review of three in the series. The reviewed article describes an attempt to place an econometric value on consumers’ preferences between broad and narrow networks.

Description: A review of the academic article "Health Insurance for ‘Humans’: Information Frictions, Plan Choice, and Consumer Welfare."

Description: For a long time the primary focus of private LTC insurance companies has been to educate the public about the need for private LTC insurance and to make the product more acceptable to a wider population. To this end there have been numerous changes to the product design to make this product more acceptable to general population. However, one of the things that may have been overlooked in those product design changes is the need for alignment of policyholder and insurance company’s interests, which is to make coverage more affordable and to reduce adverse selection. Incentivizing good behavior from policyholders can not only make LTC insurance policies less expensive but also help policyholders make better health choices, which can help them stay healthy for a longer time. These incentives may also reduce some of the inherent risks in a long term care policy and may help in increasing the sales of private LTC insurance.

Description: Applying behavioral-science and shared-value principles to insurance is a win-win proposition for both insurers and clients.

Description: Nonprofit ideas shares lessons from the field about how a better understanding of underserved consumers can lead to better product design.

Description: The Bermuda International Life and Annuity Conference highlights Bermuda’s enhanced capital and solvency framework, and growing long-term (re)insurance sector.

Description: Describes benefits of updating homes for aging in place. Calls for stakeholders coalition of: building & tech sectors, LTCI, homecare, health insurance & care.